When asked during his weekly press conference whether or not athletic director Barry Alvarez brought him up to speed on the rivalry between Ohio State and Wisconsin, Andersen gave an unexpected answer.

"No one's even really shared anything with me," Andersen said. "I know the kids are excited to play Ohio State, just like they would be excited to play Ohio State every year, just like they were excited last week to play Purdue."

Purdue? Nobody's shared anything about Ohio State? That doesn't sound like a program forever influenced by Alvarez, whose never been described as naive.

This game essentially decides the Leaders Division. The winner of Saturday's showdown between No. 4 Ohio State and No. 23 Wisconsin can start making reservations for the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.

It wasn't always that way. Before Alvarez's arrival, Ohio State had a 43-12-4 advantage against Wisconsin. Alvarez went 5-7-1 against the Buckeyes. He gave Ohio State fans somebody else to think about besides "That team up North."

Alvarez's immediate successor got it half right. Bret Bielema won three straight Big Ten titles. Bielema, however, finished 1-5 against the Buckeyes, and his move to Arkansas remains a Twitteriffic mess.

Just in case Alvarez hasn't gone over those facts with Andersen, let's give a free lesson of what's about to go down in Columbus, a place Andersen said he hasn't visited since a recruiting trip in 1984.

This "rivalry" ignited in 1993, when Ohio State's Marlon Kerner blocked Rick Schnetzky's 32-yard field goal to preserve a 14-14 tie. Both teams finished 10-1-1, and the Badgers beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl.

-The schools have combined for 16 Big Ten championships on the field, and either the Buckeyes or Badgers have claimed a share of the conference title each of the last eight seasons.

-Wisconsin owns a 3-5 record in its last eight trips to Columbus, and that would be 4-4 if not for Braxton Miller's last-minute touchdown pass in the Buckeyes' 33-29 victory in 2011.

-Ohio State fans still haven't forgiven the Badgers for a 42-17 win at Ohio Stadium in 1999. Ron Dayne provided the exclamation point with four second-half touchdown runs. That's the last time Wisconsin won a Big Ten championship and beat the Buckeyes in the same season.

Does any of that sound like a game against Purdue?

Andersen is making his first trip as a head coach to Ohio Stadium, an environment that's every bit as hostile as any SEC location. Ask Nebraska's Bo Pelini how overwhelming it gets at night. Ohio State scored 28 second-quarter points in a 63-38 blowout of the Cornhuskers last season.

At least Andersen knows the competition. He served as Urban Meyer's defensive line coach at Utah in 2004. Andersen downplayed that angle, too.

"My take is that it doesn't have anything to do with it," Andersen said. "Obviously, Urban's a good friend. I consider him a good friend. Who knows? Maybe he doesn't consider me a good friend."

Meyer is playing nice for now. He called Wisconsin "the king of the Big Ten right now" at his press conference Tuesday, but nobody's buying that. Meyer is 16-0 at Ohio State. Wisconsin lost six games last year.

Maybe honest is the best way to describe Andersen. Half of the Big Ten coaches were born in either Ohio or Michigan. Bielema was a Big Ten disciple who turned on his conference. Andersen is from Utah, an outpost where the Big Ten gospel doesn't resonate. He doesn't have to subscribe to the "Big Two" theory. That should pay off long term.

In the short term, a keep-it-simple strategy with running backs Melvin Gordon and James White -- they've combined for 1,078 rushing yards on just 114 carries -- is enough to hang around with the Buckeyes.

"Ball security, turnovers, fourth quarter, your ability to be able to sustain and maintain through the whole game, but we'll see if we're in that point," Andersen said. "I'd like to be at a point in that game where we're hoping we could run the ball and get a couple first downs and see what happens.